


Atrocities And Mischief, The Life Of Kaiu Ayano - A Primer

by UncaBob



Series: Atrocities And Mischief, The Life Of Kaiu Ayano [1]
Category: Legend of the Five Rings
Genre: Assumes you know what L5R is, Gen, Primer, Very little will make sense if you don't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:54:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26338315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UncaBob/pseuds/UncaBob
Summary: Who is Kaiu Ayano and what are these scribblings?
Series: Atrocities And Mischief, The Life Of Kaiu Ayano [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913869
Kudos: 1





	Atrocities And Mischief, The Life Of Kaiu Ayano - A Primer

So who is Kaiu Ayano?  
As you might guess she's a character of mine that I played in an L5R campaign some years ago. This game was run using 4th Edition rules, but Ayano used the 3rd Edition version of the Kaiu School. This is because the Kaiu are one of the casualties of 4E's School destruction spree. For those not familiar with 3E, the Kaiu school had 3 paths with 3 ranks each available; Weapon Smithing, Armour Smithing and Engineering. Every time you increased in rank you would choose one of the three paths to progress. 4E gave the Kaiu a standard 5 rank school made up of much, much weaker versions of the 3 paths mushed together. It does a large amount of nothing. So instead my GM allowed the usage of 3E's version of the school with it's functioning techniques and progression. Ayano would follow the path of Armour Smithing.

Tragically for Ayano her first outing involved a rescue mission into the Shadowlands, during which she was injured and subsequently tainted. This affliction would come to define the rest of her life. Ayano would quickly discover her condition and begin seeking ways of riding herself of it, rather than join the Berserkers and die an honourable death in combat. Ayano would experience an number of of other adventures in her time as a player character, the two most notable being:  
1\. Helping to save the Oracle of Earth from the machinations of the Lying Darkness, during which she acquired a huge shard of Crystal from the Oracle (which the module writers thought should be a one use anti-Lying Darkness knife, _for some unknown reason_ ) that would go on to become the focus of her personal weapon; Yamane, an enormous hammer.  
2\. Participating in the first Winter Court at the restored Shiro Chuda, which would mark the end of her time as a player character. Along with the rest of the group Ayano investigated a series of brutal murders, eventually braving a blizzard to discover the killer was none other than Kokujin come to indulge in one of his favourite pastimes; fucking with the Dragon Clan. While the rest of the party struggled to figure out how to act against such an overwhelming but not currently hostile opponent, Ayano talked with the corrupted monk. With a silver tongue he tempted her with what she'd been desperately seeking, and faced with a chance to escape the Taint in her soul Ayano did not have the strength to resist. And so Ayano ended her run as a PC and the rest of the party escorted Kokujin to the castle where the _literally protected by fate skin stealer_ would duel the Dragon Clan champion behind closed doors and very definitely lose the duel then disappear. The Dragon Clan Champion himself said so, so it must be true!

Ayano would go on to play a minor role later in the campaign as an NPC, and was forever enshrined in my heart as a good girl who became the disciple of the local Antichrist. Now free of the restraints of being a PC Ayano lives on as an atrocity committing terror who seeks to bring down the stagnant status quo enforced by heaven so that Humanity can inherit it's rightful place. In between committing horrifying acts to further humanity's ascension she sometimes hangs out with a foolish young Soshi mask maker who she finds excellent company and good for her sanity. The following works are pieces that I've gotten inspired to write about her doings. It's pure self-indulgent fun on my part, so keep that in mind if you read them.


End file.
